A little later this month, but hey, so was the new season. After a few days to let it settle in, I’m ready to help you out with some deck-building advice for this month in Marvel Snap (Free). This last month saw the rise and slight backslide of Arishem decks, and at least a couple of Deadpool’s pals have found their way into the regular rotation. Basically, everything changed again. And so, we’ll do our best to help you put together a deck that can win, as we always try to. Remember as ever: today’s winning deck could be tomorrow’s melted ice cream. These guides are one way to keep your finger on the pulse of the scene, but they aren’t the only method you should be using.

Note that most of these decks are the best of the best at this point in time. They assume you have access to a full range of cards. I’ll once again be including the five strongest Marvel Snap decks of the moment, and I’ll throw in a couple more decks that don’t need things that are too hard to get and are just sort of fun to play with. You know, a little variety and all of that.

It’s been another wild month as Arishem decks continued to dominate until a balance change knocked out a couple of pieces of the puzzle. It’s still a strong performer, but there are other things to worry about now. The Maximum Effort season yielded a couple of very good cards that we’re seeing show up in many decks, and a few that can’t seem to find solid footing as of yet. Hydra Bob might never, in fact. He seems uniquely designed for the Deadpool’s Diner event, and… that’s over now. Well, what can you do? As for the Young Avengers, I haven’t seen much of an impact from the currently available cards, but they seem designed to work together so we’ll have to see how things play out as they release. Let’s check those decks now.

Here’s Sand in Your Eye!

Included Cards: Nebula, Spider-Ham, Jeff, Cassandra Nova, Makkari, Copycat, Nocturne, Captain Marvel, Claw, Sandman, Ultron, Red Hulk

This deck has a little bit of everything going on in it, but the centerpiece here is Sandman, who will limit your opponent’s actions as soon as you can get him out there. He’ll also limit your own, but lucky you! You’re ready for that with Ultron, Jeff, Nocturne, Captain Marvel, and Claw. Nebula will help you control the field a bit, while Ham, Nova, and Copycat break down your opponent’s strategies. You’ll need to have a fairly up-to-date collection to play this as recommended, but if you’ve got the cards, you have nothing to lose here.

Silver Surfer Still Never Dies

Included Cards: Nova, Forge, Brood, Silver Surfer, Killmonger, Red Guardian, Hope Summers, Makkari, Sebastian Shaw, Nocturne, Absorbing Man, Gwenpool

Silver Surfer is still flying high, with a few tweaks to react to balance changes and new cards. If you’ve been playing a while, you know how this goes. You’ve got the classic Nova/Killmonger pair for boosting your cards a bit once you have some out there. Forge ideally boosts Brood so that its clones will be stronger. Gwenpool boosts cards in your hand, Shaw gets beefier as he gets buffed, Hope lets you get more Energy, and the Surfer/Absorbing Man combo is there finish things off in style. Red Guardian slides into Cosmo’s old position as a slightly more all-purpose foil.

Thena, Warrior Princess

Included Cards: Kitty Pryde, Thena, Jeff, Cassandra Nova, Red Guardian, Hope Summers, Copycat, Nocturne, Shang-Chi, Captain Marvel, Gwenpool, Alioth

Thena and Kitty are settling in as a reliable duo, and with them at the heart of a deck you can really just build around them with other generally useful cards. Jeff and Nocturne let you control the field a bit, Hope gives you more Energy, Gwenpool buffs your hand, Shang-Chi is your emergency monster killer, and cards like Cassandra Nova, Red Guardian, Copycat, and Alioth can help you shut down your opponent’s plans in a jiffy. Just make sure you keep to the rhythm of Kitty plus one other card, strengthening Thena and Kitty as you lay out your other cards.

Arishem and Loki

Included Cards: Quinjet, Shadow King, Agent Coulson, Copycat, Loki, Shang-Chi, Leech, Nick Fury, Blink, Blob, Mockingbird, Arishem

Poor Arishem. He rose to the top after my last guide went up, and was already cut down a bit before this one. But he’s still potent, especially combined with Loki. You just have to be careful, because Cassandra Nova in particular will absolutely wreck you if your opponent plays her. That’s why you have Shang-Chi and Shadow King, though. Anyway, the basic idea here is to use the extra cards from Arishem to fuel the Blob, while using other cards to feed your hand or muck with your opponent. Between the Quinjet and Loki, those cards you get from Coulson, Loki, Fury, and Arishem should be cheap as chips to play. Use this deck carefully and you’ll find it a reliable winner.

Patriot Returns

Included Cards: Wasp, Dazzler, Jeff, Cassandra Nova, Patriot, Brood, Absorbing Man, Iron Lad, Blue Marvel, Sandman, Doctor Doom, Ultron

In some ways, this is sort of a cross between the Surfer deck and the Sandman one listed above. Basically, get cards like Brood, Doom, and Ultron out there and buff them up with Patriot and Blue Marvel. Dazzler benefits from Ultron’s location-filling, and you can use Absorbing Man and even Iron Lad to double up on some of those buffs. Sandman is here to do what he always does when paired with Doom or Ultron: mess up your opponent’s last turn without troubling yours.

And now, a couple of fun decks for those still climbing up the collection ladder or who simply want to try something different.

Skaars

Included Cards: Black Knight, Blade, Moon Knight, Lady Sif, Jubilee, Ghost Rider, Blink, Hela, Skaar, Magneto, The Infinaut, Death

Hela has been severely nerfed, but I still find this straightforward Discard deck relatively effective. Especially since a lot of counter-strategies are aimed elsewhere these days. Play Black Knight first, use your first Discard to make a nice Ebony Blade, Ghost Rider that strong card back in, or use Jubilee plus Blink to bring in a couple of monsters. At the end, send out Hela if you can and bring back whatever you have left in the Discard pile. Simple and clean.

Swarm Discard

Included Cards: Ant-Man, Elektra, Ice Man, Nightcrawler, Blade, Wolverine, Armor, Swarm, Strong Guy, Lady Sif, Swordmaster, Apocalypse

Another month of review, this time circling back to the early Discard deck. With Discard’s best decks weakened in recent months, you might find decent luck with this one as people are generally bringing fewer tools to shut it down. Use cards like Blade, Lady Sif, and Swordmaster to cut down Apocalypse and Swarm, which should give you a stronger Apocalypse to play on the last turn and plenty of Swarms to fill out locations. That in turn will help you beef up Ant-Man and maybe even get Strong Guy out at his best. Elektra, Armor, and Ice Man are just there to mess with your opponent.

And that’s it for this month’s deck guide. We’ll return with another one of these in September to see where things stand after the Young Avengers and a month’s worth of balance changes have done their thing. These new cards are looking extra-spicy already, potentially creating a new type of deck. As ever, it’s also going to be interesting to see what cards and decks Second Dinner feels like addressing with balance changes. Scary business, but we’ll get through it somehow. For now… happy snapping!